Times-Advocate, 1987-04-08, Page 14•
Page 14 Times-Advocat
•
a
.11
SIGNING UP - GFA president Brigid Pyke 's talk to a group of
farmers at the Dashwood Community Centre convinced a number of
them, including Tony Zwambag of RR 3 Crediton to take out member-
ship in the OFA. _
RENEWING ACQUAINTANCE — OFA president Brigid Pyke talks
with old friends Ruth and Alan Hill who come from Lucan to hear
her speak in the Dashwood Community Centre.
Brigid Pyke dissects farm
Brigid Pyke. the first woman to be ding or block averaging. The OFA is
- elected presidentof the Ontario' . also lobbying to maintain the current
Federation— of - Agriculture;– provisions for farm truck licencing.
knowledgeably and articulately Pyke highlighted some of the issues
dissected the issues and concerns fac- in which the OFA is involved. She
ing the agricultural community at a revealed how the OFA and the CFA
public meeting in Dashwood on lobbied for equitable distribution of
Wednesdarafternoon.-After being-in—the-billion dollars suddenlyallocated .
-----_--troduced by Huron County. F of A, to the _special grains program,
president Paul-Klopp. Pyke outlined pleading the case for producers east
what the '23,400 OFA members. of the Manitoba border. The in -
receive in return for their $100 fighting some cynics thought the
membership fees which finance 94 government , expected never
percent of the $2,600,000 budget. I The materialized.
remainder comes from an alliance 'It took some horsetrading - soys
with commodity groups like the pork versus corn, et " cetera - but the
producers who paid in$26.o(x► and $730 organizations worked it out together",
from the cattlemen.) Pyke'said.
Pyke explained that the OFA pur- Pyke expects changes in crop in -
sues some policies to make things -bet- surance, and gives credit to the im-
ter.for farmers. and works to head off pression made on government last
others -that would make things worse. fall by those whose 1986 crops were
An example of the former is seriously affected by the wet weather.
establishing of the farm -debt review To counter "the inertia on the other
boards. As for the latter, the OFA is side of the fence". the OFA plans to
lobbying t•.) block such proposed help farmers make informed choices
measures in the Neilson report as ' in the voting booth by supplying at
county level summaries of can-
didates' views and positions on farm -
related issues. She wants to see the
lobbying efforts in the counties
strengthened.
Pyke said a brief presented to pro-
vincial treasurer Bob Nixon stated
firmly that the OFA sees no economic
indicators to justify a proposed phase-
out of the OFFIR program, which is
well used. ( Huron county has one of
whittling down investment tax credit
from the current seven percent to
nothing by 1989, and elimination of
cash accounting recommended in the
same report by bureaucrats who see
no need for flexible livestock recor-
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payment goes to the farmer rather
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she added:
Turning to the OFA's intereslin the
imminent review of farm debt legisla-
tion, Pyke said the OFA has been ac-
cused of "always working for the guys
with problems - why don't you ever do
anything for us quote unquote good
farmers".
"I make no apology for the OFA's
efforts to clean up that negotiating
process between creditor. and deb-
tor", Pyke asserted. "The situation
will not go away. Land values have
dropped drastically. Some have the
same cash flow as before, but do not
have the prescribed amount of dollars
for security they had before. The
situation is grave,out there, and it is
everyone's problem. Even if you are
debt -free, sooner or later you are go-
ing to want to sell your farm, and you
are going to be looking around for a
25 -year-old with four or five hundred
thousand dollars in cash in his back
pocket. That's why we need the credit
policies and the debt review policies."
Pyke touched briefly on the egg,
pork and beef producers' interest in
development of a stabilization pro-
gram for farm -fed feed, saying the
commodity boards have basically
said "put together a system."
Pyke warned that the animal
welfare issue is extremely serious. A
meeting has been called in Guelph for
the end of April among commodity
group representatives, OMAF and
animal behavior experts to -begin
developing a strategy that will later
involve a wide range of interests, in-
cluding native peoples, mink farmers.
druggists, retailers and all using
animals in research.
On the issue of free trade, Pyke said
the OFA and the CFA are working
behind the scenes with full awareness
that Canadian agriculture can not be
dealt with "across the board with one
set of rules". She listed the red meat
industry (with $500,000,000 of pork go-
ing into the US) who want a better
way of settling countervail disputes,
supply management groups who do
not want their system destroyed, and
horticultural crop producers who
don't see how they can give up any
more of the Canadian market.
THE SEAFORTH BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT I OCIATION
IS HOSTING
LUNCH WITH THE PREMIER
DAVID PETERSON
and Agricultural Minister Jack Riddell
THURSDAY, APRIL 1611:44 M.
TOPIC: Rural Community Revitalization
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"If the rationale of a free trad
agreement between the. US. an
Canada is to reduce the cos -t of food
we say it's about as low as you are go
ing to have it in the free world righ
now. Short of leaning further on th
farmer, there are no more economies
of_scale to get gut of it",
emphatically.
-Pyke pointed out that most - US
surpluses are greater than Canada's
total domestic requirements. Zeroing
in on corn as one example of a very
complicated situation, Pyke said it
was intriguing to hear the Americans
whine that they got the short end of
the stick in their countervail attack on
the US farm bill when one state, Iowa,
produces 1.4 billion bushels of corn,
one-tenth of all that' is grown on this
planet, and five times all the corn us-
ed in Canada.
"We could export half of our pro-
duction and not make a dent in their
market, and they could export one
percent of theirs and swamp us".
Pyke said.
Pyke said life would be easy if
everyone had the same problem at
the same time. The OFA with its
broadly based membership is a part-
nership which can't diately
swing with each issu
ref. the
demands of all the ople hurting
across Ontario.
Before throwing the discussion
open to questions, Pyke said the OFA
was tackling a host of issues, and
desperately needed the support of all
farmers. She said she could easilys
justify the $100 fee, as members get
good value for their money.
Many of the questions- centred
around farm debt. Pyke said the OFA
had lobbied for legislation to allow
court-ordered legislation. under the
bankruptcy act. as there were a total
of 34.000 business and farm bankrupt-
cies in 1984, and less than 400 got
together with the creditor to arrange
to stay in business. She said govern-
ments spend billions to set up and
develop industries in some sectors of
the country, and let others fail.
The banks successfully opposed the
proposed legislation, Pyke said, and
the debt review board- were the
result. The OFA is conducting a
survey to determine how the process
is working: She warned that the pro-
cess will be messy and expensive
comparing it to a divorce settlement,
but would be just as messy without
the review process.
The boards are called in in two
situations - for those who suspect they
are in trouble and for those who have
received notice that stock or equip-
ment is about to be seized.
Pyke said the banks would he
smarter and get better PR if they
advertised that they were in for the
long haul , and appreciated the
farmers' business. ( Five year's ago
they were phoning offering loans).
"It would be better than the current
trench warfare", Pyke commented.
Pyke reassured her listeners that
not everyone in trouble now was a -
poor manager, and they did not get in-
to their situation alone. Someone look-
ed at their cash (low and lent them the
money. She advised those in trouble
to not "pull any fast ones" fo give the
creditors ammunition.
Pyke said the OFA has never said
it is out to save every last living
farmer but will do the best it can for
everyone who comes to the OFA for
help. She said the debt review process
is hard to evaluate and the OFA is
"not so married to it that it will stick
with it if it is causing problems."
RUDY RETURNING
The South Huron Recreation Centre
is hosting a fund raising dance on
Saturday, April 25 featuring the
"Rudy Davis Band".
This is Rudy's second appearance
in Exeter since he left former group
"Lowdown" and we hope the turn out
will be as successful as his first per-
formance. Advance tickets are
available for $7.00 and can be pur-
chased at the following outlets. South
Huron Rec. Centre Office, Shaws, Ex-
eter, Shaws, Henson, Shaws, Zurich
and Pinecrest Variety in Crediton.
Tickets at the door are $8.00.
e
d
t
e
SPEAKER -- OFA president Brigid. Pyke addresses a meeting at
Dashwood. She was introduced by Huron F of A president Paul Klopp.
issues in Dashwood visit
Pyke said the feeling that some
farmers deserve to go under should
-be repressed. The industry has a wide
range of managers, but "as a class we
are not worse managers than other
people" and if farmers get bogged
down in such arguments, then "we
Pyke stated can -never do anything to raise the
average standards for everybody
which is what we are trying to do".
She cautioned farmers not to put each
other down, as, there were enough
other people already doing just that.
Pyke, who has been on the OFA ex-
ecutive since being elected a regional
representative in 1978, answered all
questions with a thoroughness which
affirmed her informed backgroun-
ding on all current farm issues. At the
end of the session a number of
farmers lined up to sign up for OFA
membership, and the Stephen
township's county executive, which
had been dormant for a number of
years, was revived.
Pyke spoke that evening to over 200
OFA members from Tuckersmith,
Stanley and Goderich townships at
the Seaforth Community Centre. She
was equally well received the next
day at a noon dinner in Belgrave and
day at a noon dinner m Belgrave and • %awanosh F of A before leaving
an afternoon talk to the East Huron ('ounty.
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